-1Do you have that courage?

"Don't be frightened," the voice assured Amu, "use this gun and take me as hostage. This is the only way to save your two friends. Don't make any noise when I let go."

Amu nodded her head and she felt his hands slowly come loose from her face and mouth. She turned to look at the guy who looked very much like Sanjo. Were they related in anyway? He looked seriously at Amu, "do you have that courage to do as I just said to save them?"

Amu gripped onto the gun tighter. It was heavy and the metallic was cold to her touch. "Ikuto is my everything. I won't allow him to die."

"Good answer," he whispered with a smile. He turned his back towards her, "show me your determination."

Amu's hand was shaking; she bit her lips and went for it. "I'm sorry I'm doing this…" She had seen Ikuto use the gun before so she had a faint idea how to pull the trigger. Aiming for the sky she fired the gun causing a loud bang. She almost dropped the gun though, unused to using one. All of Sanjo's men turned towards her direction immediately. As planned, Amu pointed the gun at this guy's head and slowly walked towards Ikuto, Kukai and Sanjo. She suppressed her urge to rush over to Ikuto whose arm was now bleeding. What had Sanjo done to him? Amu found herself getting angry for some strange reason seeing Ikuto hurt.

"What's happening?" Sanjo asked looking towards the direction of the gun shot. His face turned pale though as soon as he saw Amu pointing the gun at his little brother. "Musashi," Sanjo shouted, turning to point the gun at Amu.

"Don't move," Amu said pressing the gun into Musashi's head, "don't come near me."

Kukai who was helping Ikuto and Ikuto himself was watching Amu carefully, unprepared for such turn of events. Neither had expected that something like this would happen. For a moment back there, they thought Sanjo had won them.

Amu slowly dragged Musashi over still holding the gun at his head towards Kukai and Ikuto. She stood before them.

"Bitch, let go of my brother this instant," Sanjo demanded. His servants pointed the gun at her now too.

"Go away. Get back," Amu said less forcefully than Sanjo.

"Don't mess with me bitch," Sanjo shouted, "you won't be let off anyway so give up and let go of Musashi this instant. If I feel happy, I may let you die less painfully."

Is this what thugs were like? They were scary, Amu thought. They do nothing but threat and kill. They were scary. But there was another emotion in her than just fear, there was also anger, why? Why did she feel angry.

Amu glared at Sanjo, "back away this instant or I'll pull the trigger this instant. You don't want Musashi to die do you?"

Sanjo stared at Amu then towards Kukai and Ikuto. There was a few seconds of silence; the tension building. Sanjo could feel his men's impatient already. He held up his hands signalling them to move back slightly. He had his eyes set on his own brother Musashi, wanting to tell him so much that he will save him.

Ikuto studied Amu carefully, still feeling uneasy about her. "What are you playing at now?"

Kukai quickly covered Ikuto's mouth, stopping him from speaking. Kukai didn't want to let Ikuto distract Amu from what she was doing. He couldn't help but smile. It seems he wasn't wrong from saving her from Ikuto earlier on.

Sanjo began to feel irritated and desperate as well. They had moved back a considerable amount, well to his standards, but the girl holding her brother hostage didn't flinch at all. "IKUTO, you coward. Your despicable to use these methods," Sanjo provoked, "fight me fairly."

Ikuto didn't bother to reply, well he couldn't since Kukai still had his hands clasped over his mouth.

Sanjo watched as Musashi winced from the gun pointed at him, which was pressed harder to his head than before. Sanjo got desperate again, "IKUTO CONTROL YOUR WOMAN FOR GODS SAKE. TELL HER TO LET MY BROTHER GO THIS INSTANT."

Ikuto stared at Sanjo, eyeing his facial expression carefully and analysing his body language. Sanjo was sweating and he looked anxious. His desperate emotion was real. If he knew Amu he wouldn't show such emotion because he knew she wouldn't hurt Musashi. Just then he also called Amu his woman meaning…she wasn't lying before. She really didn't know Sanjo. Ikuto looked at Amu. He didn't want to admit it but he knew this time round he judged her wrong.

"Your not far back enough," Amu simply said.

Sanjo gritted his teeth, "don't push your luck. Who are you anyway bitch? Are you Ikuto's woman? You should realise following him is the worst choice you'll ever make."

Amu didn't answer but simply looked at Sanjo. Ikuto removed Kukai's hand away from his mouth to reveal the smile he had ever since knowing that Amu wasn't lying. Things would be much easier for him now; Sanjo was no threat. He walked up to behind Amu and smirked, "Sanjo. You heard my girl didn't you? You haven't backed far enough."

Sanjo kept his glare. "What do you want Ikuto. You know I won't forgive you if-"

"If anything happens to your precious brother," Ikuto finished for him, "tell all your men to fuck off elsewhere. You and only one driver can stay to see me release your brother, otherwise prepare a grave."

Sanjo didn't move. He just kept watch on both Amu and Ikuto as well as his own brother. He was indecisive as to what he should do at this point. He needed the thing that Ikuto had and this was one golden opportunity he shouldn't miss but what about Musashi? "Your hurt from last night," Sanjo said more calmly, "that gun she has in her hand gives quite an impact to the user because of its specially designed power. You can't shoot Musashi. Stop the empty threats."

"Please stop brother," Musashi spoke up, "lets call this to an end for today. We have plenty more opportunities in future."

"Musashi, don't worry," Sanjo assured, "non of them will shoot you." Full of confidence now Sanjo fired a bullet at Kukai. It narrowly missed by inches. He redirected the gun towards Ikuto. "The next is you."

"Brother don't do that-"

"Do you have that courage?" Amu whispered.

Everyone turned to look at Amu.

It was as though she was in a trance of some sort. She said again, "Do you have that courage… was what you asked before."

Musashi turned to look at Amu remembering what he had asked her before. For some reason, he felt that this girl has changed or there was something more about her. She seemed to be consumed by some sort of anger - he felt it.

"For the one person whose most important to me, I can do anything," Amu continued. Blood rushed trough her body at this point, she was feeling hot and there was a strange uneven mix of fear, anger and desperate urgency in her. Amu's eyes seemed void as she looked in Sanjo's direction. She removed the gun from Musashi's head and pointed it towards Sanjo instead, "I can shoot."

Both Ikuto and Sanjo looked at Amu.

"Don't lie," Sanjo said but this was quickly followed by a gun shot which missed him by miles but it was definitely a gun shot. Sanjo's men began to rush back in but Sanjo held his hand up in time to stop them from entering any further. He looked at Amu who replaced the gun's position to Musashi's head.

"Everyone head back to headquarters," Sanjo ordered, "I expect you all to follow this order or be punished later."

There was a few protest but all of Sanjo's men left in the end. Sanjo now realised it was harder than he thought if that girl would shoot. He can tell by how she had missed him on the last shot that she was not experienced, but no amateur would miss close up. He put away his gun. There was no other choice but to give in. Musashi was his priority this minute. "Fine Ikuto. You win this time. I promise I'll leave so release Musashi."

Ikuto had been watching Amu ever since she pulled the trigger. It was unexpected, he didn't think she would be the type to do so. "Amu. Let Musashi go. We had some sort of a deal."

Ikuto's voice was like a electric shock to Amu, it seemed to snap her out of whatever weird emotions she was in or whatever she was feeling before. She dropped the gun to the floor could only gasp. She didn't know what she had done.

Musashi nodded his head at Amu as he left with Sanjo for real. It was just Ikuto, Kukai and Amu now. Ikuto picked up the gun Amu used in his hands and without a word he went inside the house.

Amu dropped to the floor, her body trembling now. What did she do? How could she have…

"Are you ok?" Kukai asked.

Amu nodded.

"You were so brave back there, that was awesome. Your called Amu aren't you. I guess you really do love Ikuto don't you, to have done all that. Are you scared after firing the gun twice?"

Amu nodded again. Obviously she was scared. If someone gave her a gun now she wouldn't even be able to hold it. Amu now stared hopelessly at the door to the house. Ikuto went in without saying anything to her. Did he still not believe her or is this Ikuto's answer? It was clear he still resented her. Amu wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't want to give up but it seemed hopeless.

"Don't you want to go in?" Kukai offered, "you did save us again today. It should be fine."

Amu looked at Kukai, "I better stay out here. Ikuto might not like it if I go in."

The door opened and leaning against the door, with a agitated expression as always Ikuto said, "get in already. Kukai…Amu."

Amu looked at Ikuto. He just said her name. He told her to get in the house. Did this mean everything would be alright again, between her and night Ikuto. Kukai walked back into his house. Ikuto stood there still waiting for Amu to move, "don't misunderstand anything. You owe me an explanation for why you didn't show up. I still haven't forgiven you for that yet."

Amu quickly walked into the house lest Ikuto would change his mind. She sat herself down on the floor since the furniture were mostly damaged.

"So you finally decided to be nice after knowing you blamed her wrongly," Kukai said,

Ikuto patted Kukai on the shoulder, "well observed." He began to push Kukai out of the room and into another, which Kukai complained and struggled. Ikuto finally gave Kukai a glare, "leave us alone. Do not come out of here either till I say," before closing the door shut. Ikuto then walked back into the room Amu was in and closed the door as well. He sat down opposite to Amu. "So how about giving me a explanation then."

Amu turned towards Ikuto and actually bowed to him, "I'm sorry. A child went missing from the orphanage and I was only thinking of finding him so…"

"So you forgot about me," Ikuto said. He shook his head, "why did you even bother coming back afterwards."

"I wanted to apologise and I wanted to see you," Amu blurted out, looking up at him.

"How does it feel to shoot?" Ikuto suddenly asked.

"Scary," Amu said truthfully. "I don't want to ever do it again, I don't know how I did it either."

Ikuto edged closer to Amu. He couldn't help but study her once more. He had falsely accused her for betraying him because he didn't believe what she had said to him before. He thought her confession to him was all a lie to save herself, but after today's events he wasn't so sure of it. He felt her determination to save him before and that was what allowed her to do the impossible and shoot. He couldn't think of any reason why she'd do what she did unless she wasn't lying before. But he still felt insecure to trust her fully.

"You said before that you like me…" Ikuto said, "is that still true?"

Amu looked into Ikuto's eyes, their nose were almost touching. She never noticed that he was so close to her. She wanted to spend time with night Ikuto, to understand him and help day Ikuto; that was her goal from the start. "Yes," Amu whispered. It felt strange to have him so close up to her, their faces feeling each other's breath. She felt his hand lightly hold her waist and strangely she didn't move away which was what she thought she would've done.

"Prove it to me Amu," Ikuto whispered in a dreamy way, "your feelings for me…."

Amu's body seemed to move on its own accord, her hands brushed up the side of his back, resting upon his shoulders. They were close to hugging each other but slightly apart. "I like you Ikuto…" Amu said once more. She had simply had enough of everything and she only wished for Ikuto to return to her side. In this very moment when nothing but Ikuto filled her sight, she wanted so much to hug him as his daughter, him as her father. That was how things should be between them, how she wanted things between them to be. Amu missed day Ikuto so much but yet before her is night Ikuto instead. She tried so hard to suppress her real feelings, to stop herself from calling him father or saying anything related to day Ikuto. She was almost at her limit; she just can't comprehend or acknowledge this Ikuto.

Ikuto rested his forehead on Amu's. "Prove to me Amu," he repeated, "kiss me."